Foods to Have Before, During and After a Workout

It comes naturally that most fitness enthusiasts wonder how they can make the best out of their workouts. Some want to burn more calories and lose weight faster while others want to feel energized enough throughout their training sessions. Regardless of your fitness goals, many factors affect the outcome; but there’s one element that applies to all- DIET. More specifically, having the appropriate foods at the right time.

As nutritionists and sports health experts say, one should take adequate food and fluids before, during and after a workout session. This is important to maintain the blood glucose levels during exercise, maximize performance and promote quick recovery. The bottom line here is a combination of regular exercises and a regulated dietary schedule. Scientists recommend quality carbohydrates as pre workout foods and lean proteins for post-workout. They help you stay energized, build lean muscle faster and lose weight effectively. This article gives a detailed recommendation of the best foods to eat before, during and after a workout.

Best Pre Workout Nutrition – What to Eat Before Exercising

The body burns a lot of fat during exercise, which can eventually lead to muscle loss if one works out on an empty stomach regularly. Loss of muscle mass results to slow metabolism, which makes losing weight harder. Additionally, the body does not have enough energy to power through an intensive training session. Nutritionists recommend high-quality carbs and moderate proteins before engaging in physical activity. According to a review published by Australian researchers in the Nutrition Journal (2011), carbohydrate ingestion improves endurance and exercise performance.

One can sustain an effective workout, without feeling fatigued or dizzy by taking complex carbohydrates and low-fat protein diets such as brown rice with beans, sweet potatoes steamed with broccoli, or bananas with almond butter. Alternatively, you can choose oatmeal with berries, multi-grain crackers with hummus, whole wheat toast, whole grain pasta, apples, and almonds.

Ideally, you should avoid saturated fats and most healthy proteins as they take time to digest. Easily digested carbohydrates will ensure you don’t feel sluggish. Here are more fat-burning pre-workout snacks you should consider for maximum performance and optimum results.

What to eat during exercise

It is of utmost importance that we are comfortable before hitting the gym. This means avoiding all physical, emotional and mental stress that might affect the outcome of your workout routine. Ensure you are at peace. For students, you can pay someone to write essay here so that you have nothing to worry you when working to achieve your fitness goals.

During workouts, Hydrating tops the list of most important things any fitness fancier should do. In fact, if you train for forty minutes or less, enough fluids is all you need to keep going. For more enduring, high-intensity exercises, taking about 50 grams of carbohydrates hourly to supplement glycogen in the muscles will keep you running. Depending on the degree of activity, a range of foods and beverages like sports drinks, fruits, juices, granola bars are ideal. Avoid solid foods and choose easily digestible foods rich in carbohydrates like bananas, apples, raisins, low-fat yogurt and energy drinks that cannot create discomfort.

Best Post Workout Nutrition- What to eat after exercising.

During intensive workouts, the body taps energy stored in your muscles in the form of glycogen. It is important to refill the energy stores and repair broken muscles that after completing your last rep. According to a study published in the Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition, taking something that combines light carbohydrates and high-quality proteins immediately after the session builds your muscles and keeps the metabolic processes at normal. As much as you plan ahead and bring pre and post workout drinks to the gym, here are the best foods to eat after training.

Protein – Eating protein-rich foods helps in repairing, growing and maintaining your muscles. Though our bodies are different, a workout meal with twenty grams of protein after exercise replenishes muscle glycogen stores and supports muscle-protein synthesis. These include dairy products, beef, chicken, fish, and eggs. Ensure you take a well-balanced diet that will build lean muscle- think of quinoa served with blackberries and pecans, protein shakes or a healthy peanut butter recipe as your next.

Carbohydrates – We burn a lot of carbohydrates, which are responsible for fueling the body during extreme muscle activity. Including at least two grams of light carbohydrates in your meal- mostly from whole grain products and highly nutritive foods like tofu- will help the body recover.